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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26504188">A Court of Rain and Shadows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shannonsaid/pseuds/shannonsaid'>shannonsaid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:14:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26504188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shannonsaid/pseuds/shannonsaid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Feyre Archeron/Rhysand, Rhysand (ACoTaR) &amp; Original Character(s), Rhysand (ACoTaR)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rain foretold of her arrival. The subtle raindrops, the smell of damp grass and thirsty flowers. The rain never stayed long though, and neither did she.</p><p>She studied the flow of the Sidra, admiring the way the setting sun glittered on its surface, and found peace in the stutter the rain caused on its stillness.</p><p>Saoirse never had a home, had never really wanted one, but Velaris was the one place she always found herself returning to by choice. The one place she found herself missing, and not just because of a certain black haired, violet eyed High Lord, but because it was unlike any other place in the world. It was as dark as it was beautiful. It was full of life and heart and happiness. It was a dash of starlight in the blackest of nights.</p><p>She felt him before she saw him. His power flowing through every inch of the city, as if it breathed just for him. As if it lived just for him.</p><p>He leaned back against the railing, folding his arms over his chest. “You could always just knock, you know?”</p><p>Rhysand looked like he always did. Dark and mysterious and heartbreakingly beautiful. But there was a light in his eyes that hadn’t been there before, one that made him glow as bright as the stars.</p><p>Saoirse smirked, leaning on her forearms. “Where would the fun be in that?”</p><p>Rhys returned her smirk with a knowing one of his own. “Still running, Saoirse?”</p><p>“Always,” she replied simply.</p><p>Saoirse had been running her entire life. Refusing to settle down anywhere longer than was necessary. She didn’t belong to any one Court, she didn’t have friends or family. She had allies and enemies and… Rhysand and Velaris. But she never allowed herself to dwell on either of those for very long.</p><p>He sighed, the sound almost sad. “You don’t have to. You could stay here. Velaris is your —“</p><p>“It’s not, Rhys,” she interrupted. “Velaris is your home, not mine.”</p><p>She pushed herself free from the Sidra, the rain finally stopping, and started strolling alongside it, Rhysand falling into step beside her.</p><p>“Whatever you plan on giving the Queens at your next meeting, don’t, they can’t be trusted. They’re not going to help you, they don’t want to help you. All they want is leverage, an upper hand.”</p><p>She could feel Rhysand studying her and she recalled a time when that would have made her nervous. But that was a long time ago, and hundreds of different emotions lay between them now.</p><p>“We need them, Saoirse.”</p><p>“Probably,” she agreed, “but they’re not going to help. They’re not our allies, Rhysand, and they don’t want to be.” Her turquoise eyes, the eyes the color of the world Rhys had once said, bore into the starry violet of his. “Give them nothing.”</p><p>Rhys dropped her gaze and she knew instantly that she was too late.</p><p>“What did you give them, Rhys?”</p><p>His throat bobbed, “I gave them the only thing I could.” The violet eyes that now met hers lacked the stars she knew so well. “I gave them Velaris.”</p><p>Saoirse felt the world fall away beneath her, felt her knees collide with stone, and felt the sob tear from her throat before she could stop it.</p><p>Velaris. The Queens had their leverage and it was Velaris. Her Velaris.</p><p>Velaris wasn’t her home, she had meant what she said to Rhysand. Velaris was something else, something more sacred. It was her safe haven, it was her most precious of secrets. She loved Velaris, she had fallen in love in Velaris. Everything she cherished belonged to the city, and now, now it was the upper hand the Queens wanted.</p><p>Rhysand was by her side a heartbeat later, scooping her shaking form into his arms, breathing soothing words into her ear.</p><p>“Saoirse,” he whispered her name like an apology. “Saoirse.”</p><p>Saoirse placed her hand against his cheek, feeling the trace of the tears he never hid from her.</p><p>“I’m sorry I was too late,” she mumbled. “I should’ve come as soon as I realized betrayal was in their hearts. But I didn’t. I waited, hoping for more information, and now it doesn’t matter. I’m too late.” She shook her head, tendrils of her rose gold hair tumbling over her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>They remained silent as they continued their walk through Velaris, Saoirse letting Rhysand lead. Neither one wanting to voice what they thought the Queens might do with their knowledge of Velaris. And both of them carrying the guilt of betraying the city they loved.</p><p>It was only when Saoirse finally realized where Rhysand was leading them that she broke their silence.</p><p>“Rhys.”</p><p>“Saoirse, come in. Tell the others what you told me. We can figure it out. Together.”</p><p>She shook her head. It was the same answer she always gave. The same answer she would always give.</p><p>“It’s been five centuries, Saoirse. Come in. Meet Mor and Amren and Cassian —“</p><p>“I’ve met Cassian,” she reminded him, her mouth lifting slightly.</p><p>Rhysand had the decency to look embarrassed as the memory of her meeting Cassian flashed through his mind.</p><p>“And Azriel,” he continued, as if she and that memory hadn’t interrupted. “And… and Feyre.”</p><p>There it was. The light in his eyes that she couldn’t explain earlier. Feyre. His Mate.</p><p>She smiled at him. His happiness was infectious. A happiness he more than deserved.</p><p>She heard the echo of voices and laughter spill through the open windows and wrap around them on the street.</p><p>“One day,” she said, she lied. “One day I’ll meet them all.”</p><p>Rhys knew she was lying, but he didn’t challenge her, knowing this was a battle he’d never win.</p><p>“Be safe, Rhysand.” She set her hand against his cheek, stroking his jaw with her thumb. “Be happy.”</p><p>The door to the townhouse opened, flooding the walkway with light.</p><p>“Rhys?”</p><p>The smile that broke across his face told Saorise who was standing on the threshold.</p><p>She let her hand fall to her side, but not before Rhys caught it and placed a kiss against her palm.</p><p>“Be safe, Saorise. Be happy.”</p><p>And with that, he disappeared up the walkway and into the townhouse.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was nothing keeping Saoirse in Velaris. She had come to warn Rhysand about the human Queens and she’d been too late. She had no reason to remain, but she did. She wandered the brightly lit streets, listening to the murmur of voices floating out open doors and windows, smiling at the Fae that smiled at her and even at the ones who didn’t. The sights and sounds of the city she loved so desperately, flowed through and around her, reminding Saorise that it loved her too.</p>
<p>She followed the familiar path from Rhysand’s townhouse to the bookshop and little apartment above it. The one she swore she didn’t own and that Rhys knew without a doubt she did.</p>
<p>She recalled the day she had told Rhys that she was staying in the city, and how he had argued with her not to be ridiculous, and to stay at the palace above the Hewn City like she always had. She remembered the look he gave her when he offered the townhouse again. It was the same one he always gave her, hopeful and pleading. She declined, of course, insisting that the place she had found in the city was perfect, but he refused to believe her until she finally gave in and offered to show it to him.</p>
<p>Saoirse laughed at the look of shock that embraced Rhysand’s features when they reached the bookshop and the door pushed open, as though it had been waiting for her.</p>
<p>The only light in the shop poured in from its many windows, the moonlight illuminating the overstuffed couches and chairs, each one a different color and each one extremely loved. There was shelf after rosewood shelf of books in varying size and language. The floors were rosewood too, with mismatching rugs tossed about. The walls were painted a bright white, the color of…</p>
<p>“Starlight,” Rhysand commented, running his fingertips over the paint, as if he could feel their light through the walls.</p>
<p>Saorise lead him further into the shop, away from the books and mismatched furniture and moonlight, to a staircase that Rhys had sworn was older than him.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to come up,” she said, but he did, and it was his turn to laugh when the door to the apartment had opened.</p>
<p>If the downstairs had been decorated to appeal to everyone, the upstairs was decorated to appeal to someone older than both of them combined. Everything was dark and felt old. From the dark wood that made up all the furniture to the heavy curtains covering the wall of windows that lead to a balcony overlooking a courtyard. It made the apartment feel stuffy and pretentious and had Rhys laughing so hard he cried.</p>
<p>Saoirse hadn’t cared what the rest of the apartment had looked like, because she had instantly fallen in love with the wall of windows that extended the entire back of the apartment.</p>
<p>She had flicked Rhysand in the cheek and threatened to kick him out if he didn’t stop laughing, which he did, eventually.</p>
<p>“I plan on changing things,” she snapped, when she caught him grinning. “And instead of smiling like that, which is extremely unflattering by the way, you could offer to help.”</p>
<p>He laughed and reminded her that everything about him was flattering before offering to help her.</p>
<p>He had been true to his word, helping her move out all the things she didn’t want, going shopping to replace all the things she had discarded, planting trees and flowers and plants in the courtyard, and helping her paint. She was still finding reminders of his help centuries later, poems and jokes and secret confessions penned in his hand, whenever she moved furniture. The last confession found right before Amarantha, still weighed heavily in her heart.</p>
<p>She shook the memory of that confession from her head, as she gazed around the apartment. Taking in each detail as though it were the first time she was seeing it.</p>
<p>The walls were the same bright white as the bookshop, the color of starlight. Even the marble of the fireplace and the shelves built in the walls surrounding it, glowed the same color. The windows were no longer covered in curtains, the moonlight bathing the rosewood floors in its glow. The shelves were full of books Saoirse had been gifted over the years, the majority coming from the High Lord of the Night Court and her favorites coming from a woman that it broke her heart to think about. Every accent in the room was some shade of green or blue. From pillows of the palest blues to the couch that was so blue it was almost black. The coffee table was the same sea foam green as the dining room table and chairs, the paint peeling in some places to reveal the white wood that was hidden underneath. The open floor plan allowed you to look to your left and see into the kitchen, where the cabinets were the same green as a forest after a rainstorm. She knew if she walked out onto the balcony, she’d see the trees and plants and still blooming flowers her and Rhysand had planted all those decades ago. Turning her gaze to the darkened hallway that lead to the bathing room, an office that was more wine cellar than office, and her bedroom, she felt the sudden urge to flee. Not Velaris, just the apartment. She needed fresh air and less memories.</p>
<p>She turned away from the moonlight and the flood of emotions and left the same way she’d entered.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Saoirse didn’t know where she was headed, not really. She was following the pull of the city. The same pull she’d been feeling since she had first arrived in Velaris earlier that day. The pull was different than the one she normally associated with the City of Starlight, but it wasn’t unfamiliar. She had felt it before, a tug around her heart, a gentle pull at her soul, trying to guide her.</p><p>She wound her way through the Squares, watching vendors and shop owners close up for the night. She walked beside the Sidra, staring at the reflection of the moon and the stars in the dark water below. She finally came to a stop in front of a restaurant whose patio backed up to the river. Faelights hung from strings over the handful of tables, small fires were lit around the patio, their flames swaying in the soft breeze, and there was music playing from nowhere and everywhere at once.</p><p>Hearing her name startled her enough that she turned to face the direction it had come from, and half expected to find Rhysand grinning at her. Only it wasn’t Rhysand making his way toward her, but an Illyrian with a sideways grin and his wings folded in tightly behind him. His dark hair was pulled back from his handsome face by a strip of leather, although some pieces had escaped and blew across his face. His dark eyes sparkled with merriment as he continued to approach her, his long strides and muscled body making quick work of the distance between them.</p><p>The tug on her heart seemed to lessen slightly, as though telling her she arrived at where she needed to be, and she smiled.</p><p>“Cassian,” she said by way of greeting to the Illyrian.</p><p>“Rhys said you were in town, but I didn’t believe him. Told him there was no way you’d visit Velaris without visiting me.” He offered her a smile that let her know he had implied far more than just visiting when talking with Rhysand.</p><p>Her eyebrow shot into her hairline, but the smile remained. “And did he believe you?”</p><p>Cassian snorted, “of course not. Rhys knows you only come to Velaris for yourself… or him,” he added as an afterthought.</p><p>Saoirse nodded, refusing to meet his eyes and answer his unspoken question.</p><p>Cassian and Saoirse weren’t friends. Saoirse didn’t have friends, just allies and enemies and Rhysand. But if she had friends, Cassian would have been at the top of that list. After their awkward first meeting, their paths had crossed hundreds of times over the centuries, and they had become something similar to allies. It was why Rhysand always acted as if he had forgotten they knew each other. It was his way of reminding her that she had more than she realized. A lot more.</p><p>“Cassian!” A pretty voice echoed from somewhere behind him.</p><p>He glanced behind him, a rumble of a laugh shaking his broad shoulders. “One second, Mor, I’m coming!” His eyes met Saoirse’s, alight with laughter. “If I don’t get back, Mor’ll probably drag me back by my ear.” He grinned at the idea. “Why don’t you join us?”</p><p>She felt her hands go clammy with the idea of joining the Fae she had been avoiding for centuries. But at the same time, that tug on her soul urged her join them, begged her to, and she found herself nodding before she had a chance to refuse.</p><p>Cassian beamed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and tucking her into his side, and lead them to a table pressed up against the river.</p><p>Two of the four seats were already occupied. One, by a Fae woman too beautiful for words. Her honey brown hair flowed effortlessly around her, framing her face in a crown of gold. Her eyes, which matched the color of her hair, danced with the same merriment that Cassian’s did. She appeared to have a permanent smile on her plush lips and her skin glowed in the moonlight. Another Illyrian occupied the other seat, his wings also folded in tightly behind him. His midnight black hair was handsomely disheveled and the eyes that bore into hers were the color of the sky before a storm. He was beautiful in the way sculptures were beautiful, all sharp angles and graceful elegance. And even though he was surrounded by light, he appeared hidden in shadow.</p><p>“Finally!” The sing-song voice of the Fae woman had Saoirse’s gaze returning to her. “Took you long enough,” she huffed, folding her arms under her chest.</p><p>Cassian laughed. “I got distracted.” He unslung his arm from around Saoirse and pushed her forward. “Saoirse, Morrigan and Azriel,” he pointed at each in turn. “Mor, Az, meet Saoirse.”</p><p>“Saoirse? As in the Saoirse?” Mor asked, as Cassian nodded. She squealed, pulling Saoirse into the seat beside her, and pressing a large glass of amber liquid into her hand, while Azriel only managed a small nod in her direction.</p><p>“Ignore him,” Mor whispered, taking a long drink from her own glass. “He’s been brooding all night.”</p><p>The silent Illyrian shot Morriagn a look that let her know she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought. She smiled at him, batting her eyelashes innocently. Azriel heaved a sigh, layered in annoyance and something else, as he finished his own glass and quickly refilled it.</p><p>Cassian flopped into the seat on the other side of Saoirse without any of the grace he possessed when flying. “What’s eating you?” He asked his fellow Illyrian, knocking his boot against his chair.</p><p>Azriel shook his head in response, his eyes once again finding Saoirse’s, and suddenly she knew. It was as if she could read his every thought, feel his every feeling, as though they were her own.</p><p>“It’s me,” Saoirse answered.</p><p>Cassian spun his head in her direction. “What’s you?”</p><p>“Azriel’s problem. It’s me.”</p><p>Azriel continued to stare at her, making no move to agree or disagree with what she was saying.</p><p>Mor glanced between the two of them, quickly realizing Saoirse was right. “Why you?”</p><p>“He wants to know how I was able to learn of the Queens plans when he wasn’t. How I got by their defenses while he was stuck on the outside.”</p><p>Saoirse knew of Azriel’s abilities. Of how he had befriended what most people feared and through that friendship, had learned to become darkness and shadow. Rhysand had whispered his tale to her when no one else was listening, letting his appreciation and worry for his friend mix in his voice.</p><p>Her eyes held his when she replied. “Everyone’s taught to fear the shadows, but no one’s taught to fear the rain, only to dance in it.”</p><p>Azriel held her gaze for a moment longer, before nodding his acceptance and giving her the smallest glimmer of a smile.</p><p>There was an audible sigh of relief from both Morrigan and Cassian.</p><p>“I’m glad that’s over,” Cassian sighed again.</p><p>“Me too,” Morrigan grinned widely. “Now let’s drink and dance and get to know each other centuries too late.”</p><p>The smallest pebble of guilt fell into Saoirse’s stomach at Mor’s words, but she ignored it. Instead, she took Cassian’s hand and joined him on the dance floor.</p><p>Saoirse lost track of time as she drank and talked and danced and laughed with her new companions. And when three of them could barely stand without falling over, Azriel being the only one to have kept his composure, they decided to call it a night.</p><p>Morrigan had skipped slightly ahead of them, somehow able to keep her balance better that way, leaving Saoirse with the two Illyrians. She was leaning heavily on Cassian, both of her arms wrapped tightly around one of his. He was whispering his favorite things about the City of Starlight in her ear, punctuating each one with a soft kiss to her hair. She knew what those kisses meant, what he wanted, because it was the same thing she wanted. She didn’t care that he was Rhysand’s friend, especially not when he touched her the way he’d been all night.</p><p>Mor had stopped at the top of the street, using a lamppost to keep her upright. She smiled when they reached her. “Let’s not go another five centuries without speaking,” she hummed.</p><p>Saoirse nodded in silent agreement, lying to them, lying to herself.</p><p>Morrigan clapped her hands together, “right. One of us should probably walk Saoirse home or Rhys will kill us. All of us. Including you, Saoirse,” she smirked in her direction.</p><p>Cassian’s bicep flexed under Saoirse’s hands, but before he could offer, Azriel did. A look passed between the two Illyrian’s that had Cassian ungluing himself from her side.</p><p>“Night,” he said gruffly, without looking at either of them. Wrapping an arm around Mor’s waist, he pulled her from the lamppost and they faded into the night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Saorise stared at the silent Illyrian in front of her. She watched the shadows slip around him, turning him to darkness. Except for his eyes. While the rest of him flickered into night, his eyes still gleamed with the promise of thunderstorms.</p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>“You don’t have to walk me home. I’ll be fine,” she mumbled, stumbling into the lamppost Morrigan had abandoned only moments ago.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Azriel was at her side a breath later, “I think your feet would disagree.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>His voice was as soft as it had been before, like a whisper against skin, but this time there was humor dancing across his words, and she found herself accepting his proffered arm with a glint of a smile.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The pair walked in silence along the empty streets of Velaris. The only sound the quiet splash of the waves from the Sidra. The moonlight sparkled, lighting the path around them, even as they remained in semidarkness. Saoirse could feel the shadows, akin to a lovers caress, all around her. They embraced her, welcomed her, loved her, and if they asked it of her, she’d tell them her secrets.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Azriel whispered softly. “Your secrets are secrets for a reason.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Saoirse turned her ocean blue gaze to his stormy one, his eyes shining as brightly as sky lit up by lightning. “But isn’t that your job, Shadowsinger,” she tilted her head to the side, “to learn secrets.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Yes,” he nodded, “but you are not my secret to learn.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>No, she wasn’t. She was her own secret… and Rhysand’s.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She felt the familiar tug on her heart, as if it was trying to tell her a secret of its own, but she ignored it. Instead she focused on the gentle rain that had started falling around them, the raindrops shattering like glass against the pavement.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Rain,” Azriel breathed, turning his palm to the sky. The rain slid across his hand, running over his wrist and down his arm.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“My secret.” She set her palm atop his, the rain snaking its way along the back of her hand, wrapping itself around their fingers, entwining them.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>That wasn’t Saoirse’s only secret, but it was an important one, and she hadn’t hesitated to show it to Azriel. The tug in heart seemed to hum its agreement in her doing so.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“See,” she said, her hand falling to her side. “No one fears the rain. They have no reason to.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Azriel followed her hand as it fell to her side. “You didn’t fear my shadows.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She shrugged in response. Saoirse still didn’t fear his shadows, even as they tumbled over her shoulder and down her arm, wrapping around her fingers just as the rain had.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Azriel stopped suddenly, the shadows receding, allowing moonlight to pool around them. Following his gaze, Saoirse found herself staring at the windows of the bookshop and her apartment beyond.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Her gaze slid to the Illyrian beside her, studying him in the dim glow of the moonlight. His cheekbones cast shadows across his face, highlighting his hidden beauty. He moved with a grace and silence that rivaled that of the shadows that often surrounded him. And even in the dimness, his skin glowed as if sun kissed.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>His gaze found hers, and she inhaled sharply, startled.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Why did you offer to walk me home?” She asked suddenly, trying to hold his gaze and failing.</p>
</div><div>
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>She could feel his eyes still on her, the intensity of his gaze boring into her skin and setting her blood on fire. No one had ever spent so much time studying her, not even Rhysand, and he knew as much about Saoirse as Saoirse knew about herself.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>“I don’t know,” he said releasing a breath.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Saoirse turned back toward him, her eyebrows raised.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>He shrugged in response to the disbelief that was evident in her expression. It was clear he either wouldn’t or couldn’t elaborate.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Saoirse didn’t know if she believed him, remembering vividly the look he had shared with Cassian, nevertheless, she decided to drop it.</p>
  </div>
</div><div>
  <p>Removing her arm from his, she walked toward the bookshop door, which swung open allowing her entry. She paused on the bookshops threshold and turned to face him.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Come in.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It wasn’t a request or a demand, it was a suggestion, and she had made it without much thought.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>He stood staring at her for a moment longer before nodding and following her inside.</p>
</div>
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